Back, and moved!

Hey gang,

Here's the new address, if you care to keep up-to-date on my unexciting goings-on.

http://iwisheverydaywassaturday.blogspot.com

Much love to you all!

Over and Out.

Just wanted to let the handful of you who read this blog know, I think I'm over the blog thing.  I'm no good at it and it's starting to stress me out that I don't have anything to share, so I'm done.  Hugs and kisses.  

New Kids on the Block

The best part of a new house (especially one that's bigger than your old house) is all the new stuff you get to buy for it!!  And thus beginneth part one of...what, probably twenty? posts regarding all The New Stuff.

New Sofa!!  D.H. and I have been waiting for this guy for weeks, we actually purchased him right after the new year, ordered him in the color we wanted, and then waited and waited...and now he's here!  World, meet new sofa:
*Sidenote for my Mama: I came across someone named Sofa the other day...one more name to add to the list, along with Allstar and Top Drawer and Empty Lot.

We love how tailored he is, and all that nailhead trim.  There's nothing I hate more than poufy, frumpy-looking furniture.

One of my main passions in life is trolling Craigslist for treasures...which is where I found this little darling, crying out for attention and love.  She weighs about a thousand pounds, so I'm especially grateful to my D.H. and our friend Buddy who carried it down and around a narrow, angled staircase without seriously damaging anything or anyone.  I don't know what color to paint her, yet, but I do know once she gets a little beautification going on she'll be a knockout, perfect for storing our ever-expanding collection of DVDs.  You can't beat that for fifty buckanos!

Ah...and my new, 100-year-old oak buffet.  D.H. and I did a dangerous thing and discovered a wonderful antiques store in McMurray, PA called The Forget Me Not Shoppe, which is not only well stocked with awesome pieces but they are also reasonably priced.  And they deliver.  This charmer was even on sale.  squeeee!  That foggy, age-warped mirror!  Those drawer pulls!...I need to go lie down.

We actually went in to the Forget Me Not Shoppe for this desk for the Mister...

Not that I blame him, it's gorgeous, and in perfect condition, right down to the leather panels on top.

All in all it's been a very productive week for all The New Stuff, which means, of course, that it's time to replenish ye olde bank account before we go for it again.

*And just between you and me, I would put money down that the Mister had the same reaction to the desk that I had to the buffet.  Squeeee! 

Busy Beaver

D.H. and I have been watching Mad Men, and it cracks me up when they say "busy beaver," as in, "you've been a busy beaver."

Not to say that I have been a busy beaver, I spend most of my time sitting on my arse.  Before Christmas, though, you should've seen me go.  I built my husband a workbench for his Christmas present.

I know.  I'm pretty damn amazing.

I didn't think to take pictures of it before now, though, so you don't get to see it in it's pristine newly erected beauty, but as it stands now - covered with stuff.

Our first project!

First, let's get this out of the way: I don't like ANY of the paint colors in our new house.  I really don't know who chose these colors, but my feeling is they either couldn't really see yellow or they really REALLY liked yellow, because every color they used has a yellowish tint.  The entire downstairs is yellowish-green, the upstairs rooms are yellowish-white, the kitchen is yellowish-orange, and the upstairs bathroom is was baby-poopy-yellowish-brown.

Clearly, the bathroom wall color was the first thing that needed to go.

I decided pretty much immediately that I wanted something soothing, a nice blue-green color, and Darling Husband went along with it, saying "I don't know, that's your job" when I asked what he thought.  I bet he wishes the prepping and painting was entirely my job, as well!

We removed the gross orange baseboards, which were secured using FOUR INCH NAILS!  Come on, people!  Isn't that a little bit of overkill?  The prepping took a lot longer than we had originally planned, due to the serious over-use of caulk on every. single. little. teeny. crack.  When we were pulling the baseboards off, there was so much caulk on top of and behind every one of them that it ended up pulling the paper off the drywall (which was installed right on top of the plaster, and cut to fit around the trim on the door and window.  What!?  I swear, it makes me so mad when people don't just do things right!) so we had a LOT of patching and sanding to do before we could even start to paint.   

I was in charge of cutting in around the edges and D.H. was in charge of roller-ing, and we made out like bandits - once we actually started painting it went really fast.  And in no time we had all the new hardware installed, everything cleaned up, and every time I walked into the bathroom for about 3 days I would sigh loudly and say, "I LOVE our new bathroom!"

We even installed a new light fixture (prompting us to call ourselves "master electricians" for the rest of the day), going from this hideous disaster...

...to this lovely, clean lined beauty.  

(Please don't mind the roller smudge on the ceiling...it was getting pretty late and our hand-eye coordination was a little off.)

Of course, there are still several things I want to do to this little W.C., like removing the uber-trendy 12-inch tile on the floor and installing some sweet, more age-appropriate-for-a-century-old-house black-and-white basketweave tile; and re-staining the trim around the door and window...they are in some bad shape.  And I've been on the hunt for a new vanity for over a month now.  But for the moment, I'm happy to be free of that baby-poopy-yellowish-brown paint.  

Oh Christmas Tree...

I'm no good.  This blog thing eludes me.  I can't find enough things to say to keep it going.  Also, my new job requires me to stare at a computer ALL. Day. Long.  It makes me never want to look at my own beautiful computer, ever again.  But my Darling Husband keeps telling me I need to update, so here I am.

We moved!  We live in a 100-year old house in Washington, PA.  It's wonderful, but we can't help but dream about what we want to do to make it better.  Game room?  Piano room?  Man cave?  There are nothing but possibilities.  And also no money or time, so the dreaming goes on.

We had a good Christmas.  We stayed in PA, had Christmas Eve dinner with the in-laws at Jackie and Lex's house in Pittsburgh, and then had our own lazy Christmas at home where we stayed in our PJs all day.

We also got to go hunt down our own Christmas tree, it was a beautiful, sunny day and we went with Jackie and Lex (and half of Pittsburgh) and ended up with a beauty.

Lex and D.H.

D.H., trusty saw wielder

D.H. and Jackie, carrying our tree (all 11 feet of it!)

Please don't mind the ugly light fixture...we have super high ceilings so we got a super tall tree...the only problem was we didn't have enough decorations to fill it up properly!

Our first married Christmas tree in our first house.

Halloween

Halloween was great this year.  D.H. (Elder Hamilton) and I went to his friends' house in Charleston, WV for a party where we drank too much and had a lot of fun.

I know I'm lame for not posting more, but I'm actually supposed to be working on a final project for one of my MBA classes.  No more procrastinating!!

Pumpkins!

Yesterday we had a pumpkin carving party at my mother-in-law's house, and D.H. and I carved these beauties:

Clearly my husband is better at this game than I am.

Things My Husband Says, #4

While watching a hockey game...
D.H.: When they go between the legs, that's a five hole.  When the puck goes between the legs.
Me: Oh, so it's not sexual?
D: Well it could be.  If you play your cards right, I might give you a five hole later.

The Countdown is On!

The countdown until we get into our new house is ON!  We put in our offer for this beautiful house in East Washington Borough around the 1st of October, the negotiations are in full swing - we're currently waiting for the bank to do their appraisal/inspection - and we close in 24 days!  SO exciting!

The house is absolutely beautiful - it's smack in the middle of an old, tree-lined-street kind of neighborhood, it was built in 1910, it has all the charm of an older house but it's been completely updated and beautifully maintained (original hardwood floors!  Crown moulding in every room!  walk-up attic with views of the neighborhood!  maid's staircase!  stained glass window!  laundry chute!).  D.H. and I spend most of our time together talking about what we want to do with the house, where we want to put our (meager) furniture, what furniture we need to get, etc. etc.  We are basically upgrading from about 1000 square feet of livable space to roughly 2700 square feet of livable space with room to expand!

Part of what makes it SO crazy-exciting is that we are presently in a dumpy little rental house which is pretty gross - but the owner was willing to go month to month with no lease, which was what we needed because we knew we'd be finding a house soon.  Our excitement is probably equal parts hooray-for-the-new-house and hooray-for-getting-out-of-this-craphole.  Woo!

As soon as we put in the offer the realtor took all the listings down, so the only pictures I could find are here, and they aren't great...but they'll give you an idea!

Bluck.

The buyers on our house withdrew their offer because the 2nd bedroom is too small and the basement will be hard to finish.  I guess that stuff changed over the weekend.  Stupids.

Thanks to the University!

So, for those of you who don't know, I'm a big proponent of the Law of Attraction.  And here's yet another success story for the books!

When our house in Salt Lake first went on the market I had a conversation with the universe that went something like this:

"Hi Universe!  We just listed our house in Salt Lake, and I need to have an offer in 3 weeks.  It's pretty important."

Well, yesterday (day 20 on the market) we got an offer.  For exactly what we're asking.  Thank you, Universe!!

Recent Favorites

Frozen Caramel (formerly I.C. Caramel) at Panera Bread....600 calories of deliciousness with a big, fat straw!

My new DROID!  I got the Droid Incredible, and it is INCREDIBLE!  It can do anything!  I'm in love.  Who ever thought I'd be in love with a phone??

Still not working...however I don't really love having no money.

Recent Favorites

Having someone else pack and move all our stuff = AWESOME!

Having our cars shipped to us in PA so we could fly instead of driving across the country = AWESOME!

Early fall weather - heavenly and cool, and I forget how green everything is in the East!

Fabulous in-laws who take care of us when we are homeless, and a mother-in-law who makes great food!

Not working.

Happy Labor Day everyone!  Mwah!

Dear University,

I need a great job asap.  That is all.

Thank you.